Battle of Cerro Gordo

The Battle of Cerro Gordo (18 April 1847) was a major battle of the Mexican-American War that was fought between Winfield Scott's 8,500-strong American army and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's 12,000-strong Mexican army near Veracruz, Mexico. Santa Anna prepared fortifications at Cerro Gordo, preventing Scott's army from advancing on Mexico City from Veracruz, and US officers P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee determined that the Americans could push the Mexicans back if they took Atalaya Hill. David E. Twiggs' division occupied the hill on 17 April 1847, and William S. Harney's brigade launched a frontal assault on El Telegrafo hill as Bennett C. Riley's brigade attacked the hill from the rear. The Mexican general Ciriaco Vasquez was killed in the battle, and John B. Magruder turned the Mexican artillery against the retreating Mexican forces. Santa Anna was forced to flee without his artificial leg, which was captured by the Americans and was moved to the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield, Illinois. On 15 May, the Americans would occupy Puebla, and they moved on Mexico City on 7 August 1847.